KJV: The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.
ASV: The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.
Matthew Henry Commentary
7 The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.
It is a pity but that every one who sues sub form pauperis--as a pauper, should have an honest cause (they are of all others inexcusable if they have not), because the scripture has so well provided that it should have a fair hearing, and that the judge himself should be of counsel, as for the prisoner, so for the pauper. 1. It is here made the character of a righteous judge that he considers the cause of the poor. It is every man's duty to consider the poor (Ps 41:1), but the judgment of the poor is to be considered by those that sit in judgment; they must take as much pains to find out the right in a poor man's cause as in a rich man's. Sense of justice must make both judge and advocate as solicitous and industrious in the poor man's cause as if they hoped for the greatest advantage. 2. It is made the character of a wicked man that because it is a poor man's cause, which there is nothing to be got by, he regards not to know it, in the true state of it, for he cares not which way it goes, right or wrong. See Job 29:16.
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